Contemptible | Page 7

to see what was
happening. He must enlarge his bit of trench, and be ready to meet the
enemy when he himself is attacked. Therefore, if you ask a veteran of
Mons about the battle, all he will be able to tell you as likely as not is,
"Marching, and digging, and then marching mostly, sir."
The Company on the left was astride a railway embankment in front of
a large mine. The Subaltern's Company was directly in front of the
village itself; another Company to the right, the fourth in local reserve.
The work of entrenchment began immediately. There was not time to
construct a trench, as laid down in the Manual of Field Engineering.
Each man had to scrape with his entrenching tool as big a hole as he
could before the enemy came upon him.
The Subaltern had many things to arrange. The "field of fire" had to be
"cleared," any refuge behind which the enemy might lurk within two
hundred yards of the trenches had to be, if possible, cut down. Sheaves
of corn standing upright presented the first problem for the defence.
Should he burn as many of them as he could, or overturn them, or beat
them down? No, sheaves were not bullet-proof. A man could be shot
behind them just as easily as in the open. Moreover, they would serve

to hide from the enemy artillery the exact lie of his lines. The position
of his trenches, or rather holes, was about a hundred yards in front of
the village, as it would be the first thing that the German artillery would
"search." The Range-taker took the ranges from the trenches to all
prominent objects in front, with an instrument called the "Barr and
Stroud." He then made these figures known to the four section
commanders of the platoon, who in turn communicated them to their
men.
Then he had to get in touch with the commanders on either side, and to
send off a small party to improve what natural obstacles--in this case
wire fences--lay in front. He next went to arrange for the methods of
effecting a retirement, if it should be necessary, breaking through one
or two fences so that this could be effected in perfect order. As some of
the houses were still occupied, he went to the owners, and not knowing
the French for pick and shovel, said: "Monsieur, voulez vous me prêter
des choses pour faire des troux dans la terre?" illustrating it with
pantomime. "Ah, oui, Monsieur, des pioches!" As many of these as
possible were sent forward to the men, together with many pounds of
biscuits which he brought from a shop, and buckets of water for the
wounded.
So busy had he been that he had almost been unable to interest himself
in the battle which was already beginning to develop on the left. While
he was in the village a stretcher was carried through. The body on it
was covered with a mackintosh sheet, but the man's face was visible,
and if he had not been so busily occupied, the ashen face might have
upset him a little. It was absolutely calm, and its expression was
contorted neither by pain nor hate nor fear--the face of one who was
indifferent, and very, very weak.
With that he returned to the trenches. "'Ere yer are, sir, I've started this
'un for yer," one man shouted. He threw off his equipment, and began
to dig as he had never dug before. Each spadeful was safety for another
inch of his body. It was fighting against time for protection of life and
limb. The work was engrossing, exhilarating. Some of the men were
too tired, too apathetic, too lazy to dig trenches as deep as they might

have done. They had to be urged, cajoled, enticed, ordered.
The day was beautiful, hotter a great deal than those the men were
accustomed to. The Senior Subaltern had been occupying a small hut as
an advanced post. The enemy came within his range in some force, but
having the presence of mind to restrain his men from firing, he
managed to withdraw without loss. All the while the cavalry were
being rapidly driven in.
This was about three o'clock, and the sound of a terrific bombardment
could be heard from some miles to the left. This puzzled them, as it was
naturally expected that the battle would develop from the north-east.
The regiment on the right had been occupying a small copse; this was
set alight to the rear of them, and they were forced to draw back
through it, which must have been a terrible operation.
Fresh meat, in the form of a stew, was brought out to the trenches at
about three o'clock. The bombardment on the left,